Structural Features

Data on the condition of road surfaces form the planning basis for maintenance work on the road network. The focus lies on the detection of damage, patches, potholes, or even tiny cracks. The earlier they are detected, the lower the maintenance costs - the safer our roads will be. We are developing optical measuring systems that record high-resolution image data of the road surface at high driving speeds to make even millimeter-fine structural damage visible.data of the road surface.

Camera and lighting system meet official requirements

Our measuring system for the high-precision detection of road surfaces comprises two high-resolution cameras and an LED lighting system. Installed at the rear of a measuring vehicle, the measuring system records the road surface while driving at speeds of up to 80 km/h. An image strip of nearly 4 cm in length is recorded over a road width of 4.5 m every 3 cm. A projection algorithm then processes these image strips into 10 m long images with a resolution of 1 mm × 1 mm. A high dynamic range of the cameras and efficient LED lighting ensure a good contrast between dark (new asphalt) and light areas (concrete, road markings) of the road surface. A high dynamic range of the cameras and efficient LED lighting ensure a good contrast between dark (new asphalt) and light areas (concrete, road markings) of the road surface. Thanks to the oblique lighting and high resolution, even the finest cracks can be identified. The system meets the requirements of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) for the condition survey and assessment of roads (ZEB) in Germany.  

Laserscanner for the detection of additional geometrical features  

In combination with a Pavement Profile Scanner PPS, the transverse evenness of the road surface can also be measured with submillimeter precision. With the Clearance Profile Scanner CPS, Fraunhofer IPM also offers a completely encapsulated 360° scanner that captures the environment with millimeter precision. All of our road sensors can be integrated into the Mobile Urban Mapper MUM together with cameras and precise positioning technology from Fraunhofer IPM, thus providing all data of the road and its surroundings in a consistent data stream.

Fully automated data evaluation

Through the integration of 3DAI – our Deep Learning Framework with automated interpretation of 2D and 3D data – we enable an automated, efficient evaluation of the extensive data sets. The result can, for example, be a map that only shows objects such as street assets or cracks as required.